Circuit-continuing device



ept- 1930- H. A. DOUGLAS 1,775,024

CIRCUIT com'rmufie DEVICE Filed May 9, 1929 @(QZY Patented Sept. 2, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HARRY A. DOUGLAS, 01? BRONSON, MICHIGAN CIRCUIT-CONTINUING DEV TOE il' Application filed May $1929. Serial .No. 361,678

carrier receiving the other contact carrier.-

Complementalcontacts are provided upon the two contact carriers, the contact upon the shell being manually operable to a circuit altering position by means of the construction of my invention. The contact upon the shell is desirably forwardly urged by a spring so that it may be spring pressed upon the other contact carrier or lamp base. A rotary actuator, such as a ring surrounding the shell, has connection through the shell with the spring pressed contact upon the shell so that movement, preferably a circuit opening movement, may therebybe effected against the force of the spring when the actuator is turned in one direction, the actuator permitting the spring to engage the contacts when the movement of the actuator is reversed. In the preferred embodiment of the invention the spring pressed contact is equipped with two prongs or bayonet projections which pass through bayonet slots in the shell that have branches which are preferably inclined to the shell axis and other branches which are continua-tions of the-inner ends of the inclined branches and extend at right angles to the shell axis. The actuating ring is provided. with channels -or grooves that preferably extend lengthwise of the shell and receive the aforesaid bayonet pins or projections that extent laterally beyond the shell. When the actuating ring is turned in a circuit opening direction, said bayonet pins or projections are brought into the transverse branches of the bayonet channels and are seated therein to maintain the circuit open against the force of the spring. When the ring is turned in the reverse direction, the bayonet pins or projections are brought near, but not quite to, the forward i ends of the inclined branchesof the bayonet channels to permit the spring to close the circuit.

The invention will be more fully explained in connection with the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a side view of the preferred embodiment thereof; parts being broken away and other parts being shown in .section; Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a sectional view on "line 33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a sectional view on line 44 of Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is a sectional view on line 5-5 of Fig. 2.

The structure illustrated is inclusive of a generally cylindrical shell 1 which is threaded at one end to receive a nut 2 which is em-. ployed to clamp the shoulder 8 that I provide upon the shell in assembly with a support 4, which support may be the dash-board of an automotive vehicle. I have shown a distance preservin hollow washer (3 which may be interposed etween the nut and the support.

The shell constitutes a contact carrier to which end, I desirably form a shoulder 7 at its rear end upon which a spring seat 8 may abut. This spring seat is desirably a ring of insulation through which a conductor 9 may be passed into connection with a contact 10 and through another ring of insulation 11 against whose front face said contact is placed. A spring 12intervenes between and presses upon said rings, the conductor 9 which moves with the ring 11, passing freely through the ring 8. A metallic'ring 1:3 is sccured to the insulating ring 11 and surrounds the contact 10 from which it is spaced apart. This ring 13 is formed with bayonet pins or projections 14 which pass laterally beyond the shell and through bayonet channels in the shell. Each of these bayonet channels is inclusive of a branch 15 that is inclined to the axis of the shell and a short branch 16 that is angular to the other branch and which affords a seat for the corresponding bayonet projection. These seats are at the inner ends of the inclined branches of the bayonet channels and therefore serve to hold the ring 13 in its real-most position in which the'contact 10 is in its rearmost or circuit opening positionQ An actuating ring 17 surrounds the shell and is confined to a fixed plane of rotation that is perpendicular to the shell axis by having one side in abutting engagement with the shoulder 3 and its other side in abutting engagement with a'shoulder 18. The shoulder 18 is applied to the shell after the ring is positioned about the shell, this shoulder being in the form of a ring from which projections 19 are inwardly punched into corresponding recesses or holes in the shell. The other contact carrier within the shell may be in the form of a plug 20 which, in the embodiment of the invention shown, is also a base of an incandescent lamp. One terminal of the filament 16 of the lamp is connected with the contact 21that is complemental to the contact 10. The other terminal of the filament 16 is connected with a metallic sheath 22 that surrounds the lamp base, the circuit being completed to ground by way of metallic shell 1, the support 4 which may be metallic etc. The plug or lamp base 20 is provided with laterally extending bayonet pins or projections 23 w ich are received within suitable bayonet channels 24 in the shell. In this way said shell also constitutes a socket for the lamp base or contact carrying plug and, fundamentally, not only a carrier for the contact 10 but also a carrier for the contact 21. The drawing illustrates the lamp in open circuit. l/Vhen the actuating ring 17 is suitably turned, as stated, the bayonet projections 14 are brought into the forward parts of the channel branches 15 to permit the spring 12 to engage the contact 10 with the contact 21 to close the lamp circuit. The position of the projections 14 and the contact actuator which carries these projections is determined, indirectly, by the position to which the ring 17 is turned and, more directly, by the positions occupied by the channels 17 in the ring 17 with respect to theslots or channels 15. These channels 17' extend preferably longitudinally of the shell 1,' each channel or slot 15 and the adjacent channel 17 being oblique with reference to 'eachother and intersecting at the adjacent projection 14. The ring 13 may have a large gap in it as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. The lamp ma be held tightly within the shell by means 0 the spring finger 25 that is struck inwardly from the shell. The structure may be constituted a cowl lamp device to which end the shoulder 18 is desirably forwardly continued to receive the cylindrical portion of the cowl 26. A bead 27 is desirably provided upon the shoulder 18 against which the rear end of the cowl may abut. The cowl is provided with a lateral opening 28 through which the light from the lamp is directed. The cowl may be turned to shift the position of said opening to chang the direction in which the light may pass.

Changes may be made Without departing from the invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The combination with a shell having a slot theretln-ough; of a contact actuating member within the shell; complemental contacts, one of which is operatively associated with said actuating member to be moved into and out of engagement with the other contact; and a rotatable actuator upon the exterior of the shell and having a channel formation, this channel formation and the aforesaid slot intersecting and being oblique each with respect to the other, and said contact actuating member having a projection passing through the slot in the shell into the channel in the rotatable actuator where the slot and channel intersect, there being means for obstructing movement of the rotatable actuator lengthwise of the shell to enable the contact actuating member to be moved lengthwise of the shell upon rotation of said rotatable actuator.

2. The combination with a shell having a slot therethrough; of a contact actuating member within the shell; complemental contacts, one of which is operatively associated with said actuating member to be moved into and out of engagement with the other contact and a rotatable actuator upon the exterior of the shell and having a channel formation, this channel formation and the aforesaid slot intersecting and being oblique each with respect to the other, and said contact actuating member having a projection passing through the slot in the shell into the channel in the rotatable actuator where the slot and channel intel-sect, there being means for confining the rotatable actuator to a plane of rotation subsislarliltially perpendicular to the axis of the s e 3. The structure of claim 1 wherein the slot in the shell is oblique with respect to the axis of the shell.

4. The structure of claim 2 wherein the slot in the shell is oblique with respect to the axis of the shell.

5. The structure of claim 2 wherein the means for confining the rotatable actuator to a plane of rotation that is substantially perpendicular to the shell axis is inclusive of a shoulder formed upon the shell and engaging the rotatable actuator at one end thereof and another shoulder applied to the shell and engaging the other end of the actuator.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name.

HARRY A. DOUGLAS. 

